A Better Society Not A Bigger Society

David Cameron’s calls for a bigger society are complete nonsense. It was his party that killed British society. Thatcher even proudly declared, “There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families”.

One of Cameron’s plans is for a kind of voluntary National Service where young people do work in their neighbourhoods. He thinks it will get kids off the streets and away from petty crime and drugs. The simple fact of the matter is that the kids who will volunteer are not the ones we need to target. The kids who volunteer will be the Girl Guides and Boy Scouts. It will be the kids from white and blue collar families whose Mum and Dad will drop them off in the car. The teenagers who hang about outside my local Co-op drinking cider won’t volunteer. The smack-heads who commit 90% of the burglaries where I live won’t volunteer. The kids who are constantly in trouble at school won’t volunteer; it will be the well behaved kids.

I know I’ve got a cynical attitude and I wish I could more positive about it but I live in a run-down Northern town with high unemployment and high crime rates. I see what is going on with my own eyes. A 17 year old boy was stabbed to death yesterday on a road less than a 5min drive from my house. I don’t want to harp on about his privileged background but Cameron has absolutely no idea about what it is like in the real world. The big society plan will not solve the problems in the huge, run down and crime ridden council estates where I live. It will not solve problems in the inner-cities.

The only way to tackle the social problems in Britain is to tackle the poverty in Britain. It has been proven time and again that if you reduce poverty you reduce crime. The places with the highest crime rates are almost always the places with the highest unemployment rates. The schools with the worst attendance records and lowest exam results are also almost always in the areas with high unemployment rates.

We can improve our society by ensuring we give young people some hope. We need to show them that there are rewards for hard work and good qualifications. We need to show them that they can expect more than a life of unemployment, crime and gangs. We need to invest in their future and we can do this by increasing taxes for the rich, forcing non-doms to pay tax and introducing the Robin-Hood tax on the banks. We should then pump the money into job creation and improve wages for nurses, teachers, the police and fire fighters. Show young people that the jobs that benefit society the most are the best paid because they are the most important.

We don’t need a bigger society. We need a better society. Get people out of poverty and into fairly paid work and we will get the better society we seek.

The media attack on Nick Clegg

Today is another sad day for the British media. The right-wing press have gone into full attack Nick Clegg mode. It is clearly a fully organised smear campaign as it can be no accident that all these stories have been published on the day of the 2nd leader’s debate.

Some of the headlines, especially in the loveable Daily Mail, show just how desperate they are. There is the Clegg in Nazi slur headline, the Clegg and dodgy donations headline, the Clegg in pro-Europe disgrace headline and the Clegg is a baby killer headline. Okay the baby killer headline is a joke but you get my point.

If I was Nick Clegg I would be quietly pleased about the media campaign against him. It is further proof, if any was needed, that the Tories are more than a little rattled by his surge in popularity.

Shine Manchester

It was the ‘Shine Manchester’ midnight walking marathon on Saturday night / Sunday morning. Over 7500 people walked the streets of Manchester raising money for cancer research. A friend from work and I were volunteer marshals on the night based at the Old Trafford pit stop.

The start and finish lines were at Manchester Central (formerly G-Mex) and live music from Blake kept everyone entertained whilst waiting for the walk to begin. It was a fantastic night and everyone had a great time. Some of the walkers were in fancy dress and others had the names of loved ones suffering with or lost to cancer stitched to their clothes.

The organisers hope the event will raise £1m for cancer research. You can still support cancer research by visiting the cancer research website:

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/

Pictures from the ‘Shine Manchester’ walk can be found by clicking the following link:

http://shine.cancerresearchuk.org/

National Insurance

A number of influential business leaders are backing Cameron and Osborne by saying that the proposed increase in National Insurance is going to create unemployment and force SME’s to close. They claim the increase will stifle growth and investment which could lead us back into recession. These business leaders are in charge of some of most respected companies in the UK so when they speak we should listen.

Or should we?

Aren’t these are the same business leaders who claimed in 1997 that the National Minimum Wage would destroy jobs and reduce economic competitiveness? They said small companies would have to close, large companies would lay off huge numbers of staff and that it could even lead Britain into a recession. The NMW has had no significant effect on employment. Neither has it had any significant effect on productivity. In light of this the Conservatives admitted they were wrong and in Feb 2000 decided to reverse their policy of abolishing the NMW.

I think the Conservatives and the business leaders backing them are wrong again. I believe the increase in National Insurance is the correct decision. The money will be pumped back into the economy and means that the cuts we need in public spending can be put off until we are certain we are completely out of recession. That extra £6billion will give us the breathing space so that when the time comes for the cuts they might not have to be as savage as we fear.

Cameron and Osborne looked clueless when the Subprime mortgage system in the US collapsed and the world was plunged into recession. They were wrong about the bank bailouts, they were wrong about nationalising Northern Rock etc and they were wrong when they said Labour shouldn’t pump Billions of pounds into the economy during the recession. Governments across the world, including the US, all said the Tory position was wrong. They were the do nothing party and it is lucky they weren’t in power when the proverbial hit the fan.

Rooney Injury

The Rooney injury that has got all of England in a pickle could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. It is only a few weeks back that my friends and I were saying it would be great if Fergie rested him for a few games. We knew this would never happen as United need their best player for the big end of season fixtures. So, as long as it isn’t bad enough to keep him out the World Cup, I’m rather pleased he has picked up this injury.

There is no secret that as a proud Bolton Wanderers supporter I have no love for United. So I’m happy that Rooney will miss the big match against Chelsea, the return leg against Munich and a few other Premier League games. The best thing about it is that if he isn’t playing he can’t pick-up an injury bad enough to stop him going to South Africa.

English players have usually played that many games during our domestic season that they are already knackered when they get to the World Cup. Rooney now has plenty of time to rest but should be back in time to play a few games before the end of the season in order to get match fit.

In an ideal world United will get knocked out of the Champions League and finish 2nd or 3rd in the Premier League. Rooney will come back just in time to go to South Africa, score a bag full of goals and inspire England to ultimate victory.